Animating Characters by Kelly Vawter & Morgan Greene

This course is all about making characters feel alive. You’ll move beyond bouncing balls and simple mechanics into full biped animation—starting with a solid walk cycle, then a walk-to-stop, and finally a heavy object interaction. It’s the classic body mechanics trio that every character animator needs to nail.

The focus is on the stuff that makes movement read as real: balance, center of gravity, weight shifts, counterbalance, and anticipation. You’ll also work on gesture, rhythm, and silhouettes so your poses aren’t just technically correct—they’re appealing. The instructors break down their workflows from blocking to spline to final polish, so you see exactly how a shot comes together.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Create a full-body biped walk cycle with believable weight and rhythm
• Animate a walk-to-stop sequence with natural deceleration and balance
• Block and refine a heavy object interaction with proper body mechanics
• Apply anticipation, secondary action, and motivated movement to your shots
• Use blocking, breakdowns, and spline workflows to take a shot from start to finish
• Polish your animation with attention to hands, eyes, and subtle gestures

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic understanding of 3D animation principles and familiarity with animation software UI
• Tools: 3-button mouse, drawing tablet recommended
• Hardware: Computer capable of running Autodesk Maya smoothly

📝 Description

This isn’t a theory-heavy lecture series. It’s a practical, assignment-driven course where you’ll spend most of your time actually animating. Each module builds on the last, pushing you to handle more complex body mechanics while keeping your characters clear and appealing.

The instructors, Kelly Vawter and Morgan Greene, bring different perspectives to the table. You’ll see how they approach blocking, how they think about weight and balance, and how they troubleshoot common issues like stiff spines or floaty feet. The recorded sessions include live demonstrations and extensive student critiques, so you get a real sense of what professional feedback looks like—and what mistakes to avoid.

A big chunk of the course is dedicated to the walk cycle, and for good reason. It’s the foundation of locomotion. You’ll break it down into contact, passing, and up poses, then work on the subtle shifts in the hips and shoulders that make a walk feel natural. From there, you’ll move into the walk-to-stop, which forces you to think about deceleration and settling. Finally, the heavy object interaction ties it all together—it’s the ultimate test of weight, anticipation, and counterbalance.

By the end, you’ll have a workflow you can rely on. Blocking, breakdowns, spline, polish—you’ll know how to move through each stage without losing the life of your shot. And you’ll have three solid pieces for your reel.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Animators who have completed an introductory 3D animation course and want to tackle full-body character work
• Students looking to build a strong foundation in body mechanics and locomotion
• Anyone preparing for a character animation career who needs professional-level critique and workflow guidance

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Kelly Vawter is a professional character animator with years of experience in feature animation. He’s known for his strong sense of posing and weight, and he’s taught at AnimSchool for multiple terms, helping students develop clean, appealing animation.

Morgan Greene brings a background in both animation and teaching, with a focus on body mechanics and performance. His critiques are known for being direct and practical, pushing students to think about the why behind every pose.

Both instructors have worked on studio productions and bring that industry perspective into the classroom. They don’t just tell you what to fix—they show you how to fix it and why it matters.

🏁 Final Result

• A polished walk cycle with solid weight and rhythm
• A walk-to-stop sequence that reads clearly and naturally
• A heavy object interaction shot demonstrating strong body mechanics
• A refined workflow for taking any animation from blocking to final polish
• Three portfolio-ready pieces that show your understanding of character movement

📢 Guys, this is a Group Buy campaign, check the GBC forum thread to get access

You can find the course preview in the download section below.